Binaural tube supporting structure for stethoscopes



Dec. 16, 1969 l. A. SPEELMAN 3,433,943

' BINAURAL TUBE SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR STETHOSCOPES Original Filed Jan. 23, 196'? 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3k IIIIIIIIII III in 'IIIIIIIIIIII A\\\ INVENTOR. IRVIN G A. SPEELMAN Dec.v 16., 1969 1. A. SPEELMAN BINAURAL TUBE SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR STETHOSGOPES Original Filed Jan. 23, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. IRVING A. SPEELMAN United States Patent Int. Cl. A61b 7/02 US. Cl. 18124 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A binaural stethoscope having a pair of binaural tubes which at their lower elongated end portions are operatively connected with a spring means which supports the tubes for swiveling movement about their axes, respectively, so that they can be adjusted for the comfort of the user. For this purpose the spring means, which is substantially U-shaped and which is received within a flexible sound tube which also receives the elongated lower end portions of the binaural tubes, has a pair of sleeve portions which respectively surround and frictionally engage the elongated lower end portions of the binaural tubes so that the latter are not only supported by the spring means but in addition they can be swiveled with respect thereto. A means is provided for increasing the frictional resistance to turning of: the binaural tubes with respect to the spring means beyond the frictional resistance resulting solely from engagement of the sleeve portions with the tubes constituted by the extension of the spring means beyond the sleeve portion with an elongated part of channel-shaped configuration conforming to the surface configuration of the binaural tube and extending to the lowermost tip thereof and further including an annular groove at the lower end portions of the binaural tubes and at least one mating projection at the sleeve portions, so that as a result of this increased frictional resistance to turning of the binaural tubes the latter will be reliably retained in the adjusted positions to which they are swiveled.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 610,857, filed Jan. 23, 1967, now Patent No. 3,348,627.

The present invention relates to Stethoscopes.

In particular, the presentinvention relates to a binaural stethoscope construction in which a pair of binaural tubes are supported for swivelling movement.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a stethoscope with a construction which will retain the binaural tubes in the an ular positions to which they are swivelled so as to provide the greatest possible comfort for the particular user of the stethoscope.

In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide a stethoscope which, while capable of retaining the binaural tubes in the adjusted angular positions to which they are swivelled, nevertheless is also capable of having these positions of adjustment changed very easily whenever required.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a stethoscope structure which is exceedingly simple and which requires very few, if any, components in addition to those required by a conventional stethoscope.

Also, it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure which while accomplishing the above objects does not in any way provide an undesirable increase in the size or weight of the stethoscope and which also will retain for the stethoscope an exterior appearance conforming substantially to that of a conventional stethoscope.

3,483,943 Patented Dec. 16, 1969 Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a stethoscope structure which can be used in precisely the same way as any conventional stethoscope while still providing for the stethoscope of the invention the additional advantages resulting from the structure thereof which accomplishes the above objects.

The binaural stethoscope of the present invention includes a pair of binaural tubes which are adapted to be respectively received at upper free ends thereof in the ears of the user, and these ear tubes have, respectively, lower elongated end portions distant from their upper free ends. A spring means of the present invention is operatively connected with these lower elongated end portions of the tubes, and the spring means of the present invention serves not only to provide a support for the binaural tubes which enables them to be angularly swivelled about their axes, respectively, but in addition the spring means of the invention provides for each tube a frictional resistance to the swievelling thereof which is sufliciently great to retain each tube in the angular position to which it is swivelled.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary schematic perspective illustrative of a stethoscope which includes the-structure of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal partly sectional elevation illustrating the details of the connection between the spring means and binaural tube of the present inventron.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section of the structure of FIG. 2 taken along line 33 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section of the structure of FIG. 3 taken along line 44 of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional elevation illustrating another embodiment of a structure of the present invention for interconnecting a spring mean and binaural tube;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective illustration of another embodiment of a structure of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the structure shown in FIG. 6, taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6 in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 8 isa sectional plan view of the structure of FIGS. 6 and 7, taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown therein a stethoscope 10 having a hollow flexible Y-tube 12 made of any suitable pastic, as is well known in the art. The lower portion of the sound tube 12 is operatively connected in a known manner with a microphone assembly 14. The upper branches 16 of the sound tube receive lower elongated end portions of a pair of binaural tubes 18 having upper free ends 2t) adapted respectively to be received in the ears of the user, these free ends 20 carrying suitable plugs for the ears of the operator.

Within the Y-tube 12 is situated a spring means which is operatively connected to the tubes 18 to support the latter and to urge them toward each other, as is well known. The present invention relates to the manner in which this spring means is connected to the lower end portions of the binaural tubes 18, respectively, and inasmuch as the connections of the spring means to the binaural tubes are identical for the pair of tubes, the details of the connection of the spring means to one binaural tube are illustrated in FIGS. 2 through 8. It is to be understood that an identical construction is provided for both binaural tubes.

Thus, referring to FIGS. 2 through 4, it will be seen that the spring means is in the form of an elongated leaf spring 22 housed within the Y-tube assembly 12, FIGS. 2 through 4 showing only that portion of the leaf spring 22 which is situated within one of the branches 16 at the region thereof which receives the lower elongated end portion 24 of each binaural tube 18. Each tube 18 is formed at its lower elongated end portion 24 with an annular groove 26 having the configuration which is clearly apparent from FIGS. 2 and 3. Moreover, the elongated end :portion 24 of each ear tube 18 terminates in an extremity 28 having the tapered configuration also shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The leaf spring 22 has an elongated sleeve portion 30 extending around each end portion 24, and this sleeve portion 30 is formed by curving opposed side edge portions of the leaf spring, at each end thereof, toward each other so that the spring means will have the sleeve portions 30, one of which is illustrated in FIGS. 2 through 4. As a result of this construction, each sleeve portion 30 is longitudinally slotted so as to have the longitudinal slot 32 defined between the elongated side edges 34 of the leaf spring at each of its sleeve portions 30. These sleeve portions 30 frictionally engage the ear tubes 18, respectively, so as to provide a given frictional resistance to swivelling of the binaural tubes 18 about their axes, respectively. In addition the extremities of the sleeve portions 30 extend respectively into the grooves 26 in the manner shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 so as to retain the tubes reliably assembled with the spring means 22 while still freeing the tubes for swivelling movement.

In accordance with the present invention the spring means 22 has an elongated portion 36 of grooved or channel-shaped configuration extending beyond its sleeve portion 30 and up to and beyond the extremity 28 of each ear tube 18, and the side edges of the leaf spring 22 merge smoothly into the side edges 34 which define the slot 32. In addition the elongated portion 36 at each end portion 24 conforms to the exterior surface configuration of each ear tube at its extremity 28, and for this purpose it will be noted particularly from FIG. 3 that at the extremity 28 the elongated portion 36 curves inwardly toward the axis of the tube 18 so as to conform to the tapered surface 28. As a result of this configuration a large area of frictional contact is provided between the tubes 18 and the spring means 22, and this large area of frictional contact serves to provide between the ear tubes and the spring means a frictional resistance which is sufliciently great to reliably retain the ear tubes in the angular positions to which they are swivelled.

Thus, the extension of the spring means 22 at each binaural tube beyond the sleeve portion 30 along that part of the tube which extends from the sleeve portion to its extremity 28, as well as the conforming of the surface of the spring means to the exterior surface configuration of the binaural tube at its extension downwardly beyond the sleeve portion 30 not only at the extremity 28 but also at the exterior cylindrically curved surface of the portion 24 which is situated beyond the sleeve portion 30, forms a means at the lower elongated end portion 24 of each binaural tube for increasing the frictional resistance to turning of each tube with respect to the spring means beyond the frictional resistance resulting solely from engagement of each sleeve portion 30 with the binaural tube.

As is apparent from FIGS. 1 through 3 the spring means 22, which is of substantially U-shaped configuration, is completely housed within the sound tube 12 so that the spring means is not exposed and is thus protected by the sound tube 12.

The embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in FIG. includes all of the elements described above, so that these elements are indicated by the same reference characters. The embodiment of FIG. 5 differs from that of FIGS. 2 through 4 in that there is provided with the embodiment of FIG. 5 at each tube 18 a compression ring 40 made of a suitable metal and surrounding and pressing inwardly against each sleeve portion 30 at the part thereof which extends into the groove 26. Each compression ring 46 has the tapered cross section shown in FIG. 5, so that the thickness of the ring 46 gradually increases from its bottom toward its top end, as indicated in FIG. 5, and as a result of the compression ring 40 has in its interior a tapered surface wedged against the tapered exterior surface of the sleeve portion 39 which extends into the groove 26. As a result of this wedging of the compression ring 49 onio each sleeve portion 30, the compression ring 40 is reliably retained thereon While at the same time increasing the force with which the sleeve portion 30 frictionally engages the elongated end portion 24, so that in this way an even greater frictional resistance to swivelling of the tube 18 with respect to the spring means 22 is achieved. Thus, with the embodiment of FIG. 5, by the simple addition of a compression ring 40 around each sleeve portion 39 an even greater reliability in the retaining of each ear tube in its swivelled position is achieved.

Thus, with the embodiment of FIG. 5, the means which coacts with the spring means to increase the frictional resistance to turning of the tubes beyond that resulting solely from the engagement of the sleeve portions 30 therewith includes not only the structure described above in connection with FIGS. 2 through 4 but also the compression ring 40.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 through 8, each binaural tube 50 of this embodiment terminates in a bevelled end 52 and includes the lower elongated end portion 54 which is frictionally surrounded and engaged by the sleeve portion 56 which is formed at each end of the spring means 58 which is identical with the spring means 22 except for the construction of the sleeve portion 56. With this embodiment the sleeve portion 56 is also longitudinally slotted, and the slot is derived by curving inwardly lateral extensions at each end of the spring means, these extensions respectively terminating in the side edges 60 which become spaced from each other to define the longitudinal slot of each sleeve 56. These sleeves frictionally engage the exterior surface of the elongated lower end portions 54 of the binaural tubes 50.

With this embodiment each binaural tube 50 is formed at its lower elongated end portion 54, spaced upwardly from its bevelled end 52 and between the ends of the sleeve portion 56 with an annular exterior groove 62. This groove may be formed simply by pressing inwardly at the exterior of the binaural tube with the periphery of a suitable roller. The sleeve portion 56 at each end of the spring means 58 is inwardly crimped in the region of the side edges 60 which define the slot of the sleeve portion, so that the crimped sleeve portions have inwardly directed projections 64 extending laterally from the side edges 60, respectively, approximately through about the axis of each sleeve portion 56. The projections 64 may also be provided by way of a suitable roller so that the inner surface of each sleeve portion 56 has a pair of convexly curved projections mating with and received in the groove 62, and of course the exterior of each sleeve portion 56 will have a matching groove 66 extending part of the way around the sleeve portion from each slot edge 6% thereof.

Therefore, as is particularly apparent from FIG. 8, the projections 64 frictionally engage each binaural tube 58 in its groove 62 at only one side of the binaural tube and in the region of the slot 68 which is defined between the side edges 60. This connection of each sleeve portion 56 to a binaural tube 50 through the projections 64 received in the groove 62 of the binaural tube on the one hand prevents axial displacement of the tube with respect to the sleeve portion 56 so that it is reliably retained connected to the spring means 58 and on the other hand increases the frictional resistance to turning beyond the frictional resistance derived solely from the frictional engagement of the sleeve portion 56 with the binaural tube, so that in this case also the invention includes a means for increasing the frictional resistance to turning of each tube beyond that which results solely from frictional engagement of the sleeve portion of the spring means with each tube. It will be noted however, that in the case of FIGS. 6 through 8 there is also the additional frictional resistance resulting from the extension of the spring means beyond the sleeve portion With an elongated part of channel-shaped configuration conforming to the exterior surface configuration of the binaural tube and extending all the way up to the lowermost tip of the bevelled extremity 52 thereof, so that in the particular embodiment shown in FIG. 8 in addition to the added friction derived from the location of the projections 64 in the groove 62, there is the added friction obtained by the engagement of the portions of the tubes which extend beyond the sleeve portions 56 to the extremities 52 and which are in frictional engagement with the elongated channel-shaped portions of the spring means.

It is to be noted that while with the construction of the invention the binaural tubes will be reliably retained in the angular positions to which they are swivelled by the user so as to provide the greatest possible comfort during use of the stethoscope, nevertheless there is no difficulty in changing the angular positions of the tubes 18, whenever required. For this purpose the user need only swivel the tubes 18 to adjust them to angular positions providing the greatest amount of comfort, and while the force of friction between the binaural tubes and spring means is great enough to retain the ear tubes in the positions to which they are swivelled, nevertheless this force of friction is not so great as to prevent the operator from changing the angular positions towhich the tubes are swivelled whenever desired.

What is claimed is:

1. In a binaural stethoscope, a pair of substantially rigid elongated binaural tubes respectively having upper free ends adapted to be received respectively in the ears of the user of the stethoscope and respectively having lower elongated free end portions distant from said upper free ends thereof, respectively, spring means operatively connected to said lower end portions of said tubes for supporting the latter for respective swivelling movement about their axes, said spring means including at the lower elongated end portion of each tube an elongated sleeve portion extending around and frictionally engaging said lower elongated end portion, and friction-increasing means formed by part of said spring means and each tube for increasing the frictional resistance to turning of said tubes with respect thereto beyond the frictional resistance resulting solely from engagement of said sleeve portions with said tubes, respectively, said friction-increasing means including a portion of each binaural tube situated between the ends of each sleeve portion formed with an annular groove, and at least one projection at the inner surface of each sleeve portion received in said groove, said projection and said annular groove being complementary in closely fitting frictional engagement to provide the increased frictional resistance to turning of said tubes with respect to said spring means, each tube terminating in a bevelled extremity projecting beyond each sleeve portion and said spring means having an elongated portion of channel-shaped configuration frictionally engaging each tube at the part thereof which extends beyond said sleeve portion to said extremity to enhance said friction-increasing means.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein each sleeve portion is longitudinally slotted and includes a pair of side edges spaced slightly from each other to define a longitudinal slot of each sleeve portion, said frictionincreasing means including a pair of said projections respectively extending laterally from each side edge of each sleeve portion part of the way around the latter.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS STEPHEN J. TOMSKY, Primary Examiner 

